Candidates to have chance to share views at forums

Voters will have an opportunity to get to know the city council and school board candidates a little better before heading to the polls April 1 to decide who will fill the vacancies for the Baldwin City Council and Baldwin Board of Education.

The Baldwin Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring candidate forums the week before election.

The city council candidate forum is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, in the audio visual room at Owens Musical Arts Building at Baker University. The school board candidate forum will be at 7 p.m. the following night, March 27, also in the audio visual room at Owens.

Connie Deel, the chamber of commerce's secretary and Baker representative, said the chamber decided to have the candidate forums based on the community's requests.

"We had a lot of requests for it," Deel said. "That's something we like to be able to do for the community."

She said this year's candidate forums format will be similar to the city council forum the chamber sponsored two years ago.

Richard Bayha, Baker professor of communication, will be this year's moderator.

Deel said each candidate will have an opportunity for an opening statement, followed by a timed question and answer session.

"There will be no questions from the floor," she said. "The chamber will determine what the questions will be from public input."

Baldwin residents and school district patrons can send the questions they would like the candidates to answer to the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce before the forums. Deel said the chamber will then select the questions for the forums from the ones submitted.

She said the chamber decided not to allow questions from the audience during the forums because of time constraints.

"We just wanted to make sure it was structured enough," she said.

The question and answer periods will be followed by the candidates closing statements.

Those interested in submitting questions for the candidates can call the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce at 594-3200, drop them by the office at the corner of Eighth and High streets or send them to bcc@knetconnect.net or P.O. Box 501, Baldwin, Kan., 66006.